


Undertale: The Last Soul

by Mysterie



Series: Undertale [2]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-06
Updated: 2016-11-17
Packaged: 2018-07-29 15:55:05
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 14,730
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7690639
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mysterie/pseuds/Mysterie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Frisk made a promise and he intends to keep it. Fulfilling that promise, however, proves to be a lot more difficult and troublesome than he had thought. Even with one of his best friends helping him search for answers in the Underground, Frisk finds himself learning more about not only the monsters that he had pledged to save from their prison, but more about himself as well... </p><p>[Sequel to Undertale: Choice]</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Reset

How long had it been? Sans sighed as he looked out the window at the green grass outside the window. Two months... at least he thought so. Things weren’t finished. He sighed as he pulled himself from the bed. How many times were they going to go through this? Not that he had anything to complain about really... but why? He slipped into the jacket despite that it wasn’t cold out or that he couldn’t actually feel it. He walked over to the little place Toriel was living with the kid. It was a small house for two. He stood at the door and waited, counting down the seconds. Sure enough Frisk came out of the house. The boy paused.

“Sans?” 

“Kid... we need to talk.” He nodded and followed Sans to a park, this early in the morning it was just the two of them.

“Why?” He asked after a moment of silence between them.

“Huh?”

“Why do you keep doing this? I remember EVERY time kid... they don’t notice it, but why... why aren’t you happy? Is... is it not enough to just... that we made it out? That everyone is happy?” The sigh made him look over at the boy.

“Not everyone did...” 

“Wha-... what are you talking about?” 

“Let me show you what I mean... I didn’t want anyone to know but I guess if you remember it wouldn’t be fair not to share it with you. Maybe then you can understand. Follow me.” Sans nodded and followed the boy through the various streets and into the forest. After a while he realized where they were heading... back to Mt. Ebott. He saw the boy access his phone and pull out from one of the dimensional boxes a rope ladder.

“Kid... wha?” He watched as he secured the ladder on a rock and then began climbing down into the chasm.

“This is nuts...” He muttered but Frisk didn’t respond so he followed the other down. 

“Don’t be scared, he won’t hurt you.”

“Scared? Don’t be an idiot Frisk. I’m not scared.” Sans stared as a figure, half hidden in the shadows was peering at the two of them. It was... it couldn’t be!

“Come on, don’t be like that.”

“I told you I would become like this again.” Came the cold reply.

“Just, come out will you?” 

“Fine.” Sans just stared as the monster that came out of the shadows was... familiar and yet not. It looked like the prince and yet... instead of ears he had what looked like flower petals and instead of arms he had leaves and... was he shorter than the kid? He was only about as tall as the kid’s waist.

“A... Asriel?” 

“Sans. I wish I could say it was a pleasure to see you again, but I’d be lying.” Sans looked over at Frisk.

“K-kid... What’s going on?”

“Do you remember what happened at the barrier Sans?” He furrowed his brow... or at least as much as a skeleton monster could. 

“All I remember is that mess with Chara... then...  Flowey attacking us... then the other monsters appeared and.... nothing after that.” 

“Well, when Flowey took your souls, Asriel appeared. I had to fight him, I pulled your soul from his grip... but I imagine you don’t remember that.” Sans shook his head, no... he didn’t really.

“It was Asriel who broke the barrier Sans. Who freed everyone. Not me.” Sans stared at the half transformed monster who seemed to be grumbling and not looking at either of them.

“He can’t maintain his body though because his soul can’t seem to latch onto Flowey. Flowey was made by Alphys who was trying to figure out how to use Determination from human souls to break the barrier. I’ve been trying to figure out a way to save him too...”

“I told you to forget about me.”

“I can’t.” 

“You idiot.” Sans frowned. This wasn’t the boy he remembered, but he could tell that he was struggling. As Frisk had said, obviously Asriel couldn’t sustain himself... so... the kid was trying to help Asriel stay in this world? 

“Alright kid. I get it. I wish you would have come to me with this in the first place though. I would have helped you.” Frisk nodded a little.

“I promise I’ll tell you everything when we meet again.” 

“How do you plan to do that?”

“I have your code words.”

“Heh... yeah, I suppose that would get my attention.” 

“We have to find a way.” 

“Alright kiddo. I’m with you all the way, ya know that.” Frisk nodded and Sans watched as he headed over towards the next room, leaving Sans with the half form of Asriel and half Flowey.

“You’re both idiots.” 

“If we’re idiots for trying to give ya a chance at life... what does that make you?” The other stared at him, but didn’t reply. He didn’t have an answer to that. Sans sighed as the area around them began to darken and then faded completely as it did every time things were reset and he was awake to notice. He closed his eyes, when he opened them again he saw the familiar forest around him and not far was the door that he used to practice his jokes on. 


	2. Once Again

He never understood why the days reset back to this particular spot in time, but he didn’t care. He leaned against a tree. Why had the reset happen again? He shook his head, the last timeline seemed to go well... so why was he back here again? He sighed and waited for the inevitable. What path would the kid take this time? He watched as the doors opened and the child he knew ran out; what was the hurry? Usually they walked... there was no sign of dust or anything so... Well, only one way to find out, he began to follow them, but as soon as he stepped on the stick the child paused and whirled around.

“Sans! I need to talk to you!” Sans froze. The kid knew his name? Knew he was there? Well, he supposed that shouldn’t surprise him after all this time since he knew they’d done this before. He shrugged and moved from behind a tree. Hands in his pockets as he stepped back onto the path again; he hadn’t meant to break the stick, but it seemed an inevitable thing, whether he stepped on it or not.

“I’m a stupid doodoo butt.” What the... He snickered a little inwardly.

“Really kid? That’s what you have to say?”

“Sans! This is serious! Do I really need to tell you the others?” Sans was silent a moment.

“Alright then kid, what is it that’s so serious?” He was silent as Frisk began to speak, telling him about everything that had happened and what they were trying to do. 

“Well... that’s a lot to take in kiddo.” 

“You said you’d help.” He scratched the side of his skull.

“Can’t turn down a chance at it if what you’re tellin’ me is the truth.” The boy frowned.

“What more proof do you need?” Sans held up his hands.

“Okay. You got me. Let’s go, my brother is ahead. We’ll need to get past him first.” Frisk nodded and rushed ahead. Sans took his time following as he processed all that the child... no... all that Frisk had just told him. It seemed ridiculously impossible but he knew better; after all how many resets had he lived through already? How many times had he seen humans fall down here? Not all the souls Asgore had collected were from children, but this boy was not the child he appeared... they knew his first codeword. None of the others had gotten that far... He had never told anyone his codeword before that he knew of... no, that was wrong... he had told ONE... but that human hadn’t gotten out. Sans felt bad about that honestly, but there was nothing he could do about it. What was done was done; he could only move forward and hope that one day they’d be on the surface and stay there. He’d never trusted any human fully, but he had a feeling he could trust Frisk. 

 

Frisk reached the Judgement Hall; he wasn’t distracted by the oddness of the yellow room or the beauty of it as he had been the first few times he’d come here. Where was Sans? They’d agreed to meet there and swap any information that they’d uncovered. After a moment he saw his friend at the other end and shivered. It brought back unpleasant memories of the nightmares that had brought him to tears. Even if he wasn’t really a child he didn’t want to lose his friends or have to... Sans moved forward, as if sensing Frisk’s unease and relief flooded through him as Sans stopped next to him. Relief that he wasn’t stuck in that nightmare.

“Any luck?” Sans shook his head.

“I’ve asked everyone in Snowdin and Hotlands; Alphys wasn’t in her lab so I couldn’t talk to her.” 

“No luck here either... we’ll try her first thing then since she’ll have been watching up until now.”  _ She must have been in the True Lab when he stopped by. _ Sans nodded.

“Are you resetting here then?”

“Yeah.” 

“See you in Snowdin.” Frisk nodded, determination flaring as he moved over to the “save point” and selected the “reset” button. Everything went dark as he remembered from times when he had died and previous resets when he’d made mistakes. His first had been killing Toriel... it had taken him two resets to figure out how to get past her without killing her; the bonus? He’d annoyed the  _ hell _ out of Flowey in the process by making him introduce himself a second time and each reset thereafter by dodging the “friendliness pellets”... Oh boy that had annoyed the flower, but Frisk had been amused by the “princeling’s” reaction. Every time he reset and dodged... but Flowey wasn’t affected by “resets.” At least not normal ones. Only a “true reset” seemed to affect him... according to the flower anyway. Well, it didn’t matter. He hurried past the flower who just glared at him as he passed. He didn’t have time to go through the whole “intro” with him and the other seemed to not care to even greet him; simply sulking this time... This was the Fourth time he’d sent Sans after Alphys...  He planned to remind him after his date with Papyrus... Again. He’d reminded him last time but apparently it hadn’t happened and while Frisk had questioned the River Person again and again about the “man who speaks in hands” they had not remembered anything but the warning that had been passed down from generation to generation. On the last reset Frisk had asked Sans about the legend only for his friend to go quiet before saying “Nah, can’t say I know him.” Frisk had a feeling Sans was trying to hide the truth of what he knew, but why? He hadn’t pressed the matter but it was on his mind as he met Toriel at the doors that led into the Ruins, nearly running into her as she came out, he stopped short.

“Hello! I wasn’t expecting anyone to be here. My name is Toriel. I am the caretaker of the Ruins. I come here to see if anyone has fallen.” Frisk listened patiently; he’d heard this same thing the last two times.

“Come, my child. I will lead you through the Ruins.” Frisk swore he could go through the Ruins blindfolded as good as he knew them by now... okay maybe not blindfolded, but it felt like it. 


	3. Again and Again and Again and Again...

This was the fifth time since he’d asked Sans for help. How many times had it been before Sans had approached him? He thought about it as he walked through the Ruins, dodging the attacks of monsters like he’d been born doing it. Right...  five. It had taken  that many times before Sans had seemed to be bothered enough to ask why he kept doing this so that made this his tenth full pacifist run... and he’d had to reset before so... that made this the 25th run.... There had been a lot of mistakes the first few runs, mostly when he’d been getting used to the fact that the monsters here were better than the humans he’d escaped and he’d been in such a depressed state, so distant when he’d first arrived. It had been too easy to fall for Chara’s suggestion to kill, but he hadn’t killed Flowey and Chara had found that possessing him fully wasn’t as easy as she’d presumed it to be or maybe hoped. Not that she hadn’t tried her hardest to but she had made the same assumptions he’d let everyone else make... that he was a kid. He hadn’t cared the first time. The second time around it had angered him, which had meant a near true genocide run that time... but he’d come to his senses when he’d seen Papyrus... That goofball... who could ever really hate him?

“Come on out Sans,” He said when he heard the branch snap. Sans froze. This human knew who he was and that he was there?

“I need you to talk to Alphys before I reach Hotland. I don’t want to face Mettaton again.” Huh? What was with this kid?

“Also, if you need more proof... I’m the legendary Fartmaster.” That did it. Sans almost fell over laughing and Frisk grinned. 

“O-okay kid... ya got my attention.” He managed through his laughter and came out.

“What’s this all about talking to Alphys?”

“I’m trying to save a friend and you agreed to help about five resets ago....”

“That many huh? What exactly am I supposed to be asking about?”

“How to save a soulless being.”  Sans frowned but nodded.

“I guess you’re serious about this if I’ve been through this five times.”

“I’ve been through it ten... you only asked about five times ago.”

“Hmmm. Okay kid, don’t get  _ rattled _ about it.” Frisk chuckled in spite of himself.

“Just please try and remember this time.” Sans nodded and had to wonder just how many times the kid had done this as Frisk ducked behind the lamp before he even told him to and waited with a grin as he and Paps went through their exchange. He wondered how the kid hadn’t tired of his jokes if they had been through them so many times. Sans shrugged it off.

“Don’t forget Sans!” The kid called before leaving the house after he and his brother hung out. Sans sighed, guess he wasn’t spending anymore time lazing about in his room. Not that he’d been sleeping or anything like that. He’d mostly been thinking about the kid, how they seemed to know so much and who else he could talk to who might be able to help them. He took a shortcut just outside the lab. For some reason this kid had got him to thinking about his own life; a past barely remembered. He wasn’t sure why this was and Paps didn't remember much either before they had arrived at Snowdin, but then again his brother didn’t care too much about such things. It was something Sans often wondered about but hadn’t really talked to anyone about because his first memory was in that house, waking up on the couch with no idea how he’d got there and only the knowledge that his name was Sans and he had a cool, younger brother named Papyrus. Who had panicked, which was why he, Sans, had not and could not. There were no real clues in the house as to who they were... where they’d come from. No one in Snowdin had known them, but eventually they’d made a name for themselves over the years and Snowdin had become home. If asked how old he was.... Sans didn’t have a real answer; didn’t care to give one either. He figured he was at least twenty when he’d arrived. It was his best guess since only adults were allowed in Grillby’s unaccompanied. It became his favorite place to eat and he found he was very fond of ketchup... even just drinking it straight was good. There was an odd machine in the shed behind the house; he kept it covered but he honestly had no idea what it did or what it could be. He tinkered with it every once and a while, using blueprints that were written in a bizarre language that he strangely understood some how. He’d showed it to Alphys once to get her help but she hadn’t been able to read it. She’d asked him if he’d written it but he’d only shrugged and admitted that if he had... he didn’t remember doing so. That was the only time he’d asked her for help and she’d been the only one he’d trusted that far. He shook the thoughts aside as he entered the lab.

“Alphys! You here?!”

“S-sans! I w-wasn’t expecting you to drop in s-so soon! What do I owe the p-pleasure?” 

“Me and the kid need your help.”

“W-what?! Th-the h-human?!”

“Yeah. I know you’ve been watching ‘em.”

“W-well yes, but why m-me?”

“You’re the best we know. No time to explain that now. What do you know about saving a souless being?”

“Huh?! W-well... assuming such a thing existed... it would be highly improbable without a soul... and you c-can’t just create one...”

“Ever tried?” Alphys looked down and nodded.

“Okay, so an artificial soul is a no-go. Is there anything else you know that could help?” She shifted nervously but shook her head. Sans had a feeling she was hiding something, but he wasn’t one to press such matters.

“If you think of anything let us know won’t you?” She nodded and Sans left. Alphys was always strangely the withdrawn and nervous sort; he figured that had to do with a past she didn’t want to tell anyone about. Maybe the kid could help her with that. He went to his Hotland post to wait for the kid and dozed off; though the loud stomps let him know Undyne was near and seeing the kid run by he pretended to still be asleep to buy them some time as he knew she’d do exactly as she did... Stop by his station and pitch a short fit. It gave the kid time to cross the bridge. He watched beneath barely closed eyes as the kid dumped a cup of water on a heated exhausted Undyne who got up after a moment, stared at the kid like they’d grown a new head and then left. Undyne wasn’t the easiest of monsters to convince when it came to the good of humanity; Sans figured part of that was due to all the anime she watched with Alphys. None of that was real, of course, but somehow she was convinced it was. He’d never had much interest himself and Papyrus was too innocent for such things and so he’d no idea about them or curse words... and Sans kept it that way. Any monster around knew to not curse if there was a chance Papyrus was around because it always got back to Sans one way or another and he didn’t show any mercy to any who weren’t personal friends of his; and even then one only got so many chances before there was retribution and they  _ all _ knew it. He’d made it clear that very first evening when someone had slipped up... he’d given them a pass due to them being the first, but he’d made it also clear that no one else was to or else...


	4. At Last

Sans frowned as he leaned against a tree near the clearing that was off to the side of the Ruins. Where was the kid? He swore that if Paps was wrong again today he’d be chucking stones in a pond himself. An enraged cry caught his attention and he moved down towards the clearing only to freeze at what he saw. The kid wielded a knife and was a flurry of furry... the sight of the blade made his heart seem to just stop but then his brain caught up with the rest of him. It wasn’t dust on the blade and those weren’t monsters that were being cut up... it was just snow. From what he could see the kid had made snow figures that had no features... didn’t even really look like snowmen let alone any monster he knew. It was more like just a bunch of ... blobs of snow and the kid was now panting heavily amidst the powdery destruction of snow.... Whatever they had meant to be. No, that didn’t make sense in his head as the destroyed snow figures flew in all directions when the kid went at it again and only once they were still did another thought hit him... a memory. The kid was no kid... and this display couldn’t have made that any more obvious.

“So kiddo, what’s got you riddled up?” Frisk turned and lowered the blade; Sans would be lying if he said he wasn’t relieved to see the dagger disappear even if he realized it was just a toy. It wasn’t sharp, but it didn’t have to be if the intent to harm was strong enough... though monsters could have some resistance to such, often it wasn’t enough, as memory had taught him.

“Heh... so you did remember huh?” Sans froze at that and only relaxed again when Frisk gave him a small smile.

“I won’t hurt you, old friend. As to your question.... I’ve done this a few too many times.”

“How many is ‘too many’ for you?”

“When I rest again... it will be the 153rd time.” Sans was silent. What could be said to that?

“That’s not even total... that I have lived this long.... It’s a miracle really.”

“So you said last time... but kiddo... technically time ain’t moved so... it stands to reason you haven’t physically aged any. I wager it’s only your mind at this point.” Frisk was silent as he considered this, he supposed that Sans was right.

“So... how old are you now then?” He wondered just how much time that many resets equated out to... plus the number of total that had yet to be mentioned.

“Thirty five.”

“Well, that’s still an achievement. Gives me an idea how old I really am.” Frisk raised an eyebrow in question.

“Ya really sure you want to know?”

“Why not? Not like you’re gonna get any younger.” 

“Touche. Alright, I’ll tell you. Not that it matters.” Frisk waited patiently in the silence that followed as Sans tried to think of a way around saying an actual number.

“I’m as old as the hot cats I’ve given you up to this point.” Frisk had to stop and think on that, he hadn’t always gotten hot cats from Sans in every reset... but he’d gotten a few... and then one time he’d gotten a lot... and then... They stood there in utter silence as Frisk did the math from what he remembered. He checked his phone and the dimensional box for the last few numbers as he’d assigned number values to the various items in the box just out of boredom. He grinned.

“That young eh?” Sans shrugged.

“Even with the resets?” 

“Even then.”

“Huh... well, guess we should go talk to those in the one place we haven’t.” 

“Where’d that be?”

“The Temmie Village.”

“Really kid?”

“Don’t have anything to lose.” Sans couldn’t argue with that logic.

“I’m gonna check if anyone else remembers anything.”

“Alright.” Frisk headed off to Waterfall where the Temmies made their home. It's peaceful music soothed him and he took the path to the village after doubling back, as was needed, to get to the the path that led to the odd monsters’ home. They weren’t seen as the brightest of monsters as they couldn’t even speak correctly. This didn’t bother Frisk, but he did wonder about why only one Temmie was named Bob. All the other Temmies said their name was Temmie. Something was special about this one. Frisk went over to Bob.

“Hoi, my name is Bob.”

“Hey Bob, can we talk a moment?”

“Sure. What talk?”

“I was wondering if you could tell me about the “man-who-speaks-in-hands”... if you know anything.” 

“All Temmie know about him.”

“Please, tell me what you know.” Bob scrunched up his face a little before speaking.

“Long time ago Temmie arrive with Maker. Maker big, strong. Make fire that cook Temmie food. Was good time. Humans drive Temmie and Maker underground with monsters. Maker was hurt, went to see man-who-speaks-in-hands. Temmie never see Maker again. Some Temmie think Maker went to find Temmie better home after getting better, other Temmie think Maker is no more. Temmie is all alone here, waits to see if Maker will return for Temmie. Man come to village some time. Speak to Temmie, but Temmie not understand man well. After while, man never come back. Temmie hear rumor that man made mistake. All gone but not gone.” Gone, but not gone? What did that mean?

“What do you mean? How can someone be gone and yet not?” 

“Not know. Just what Bob hear.”

“Who told you?”

“Temmie.”  _ Of course.... _

“Temmie tell Bob all sorts of stuff.”

“Do you know how I can get a hold of him?”

“No. Even Temmie don’t know that.” 

“Do you know who might or who might know more?” 

“Talk to old turtle. Maybe he know more.”

“Alright, thanks Bob.” 

“Of course, Bob help good friend Frisk.” Frisk stared. He was pretty sure he never told any Temmie his name....

“How did you know...?”

“Temmie hear lots of things, tell Bob. Temmie remember, Bob remember.” 

“How much do you remember?” He felt a sudden chill. Did they remember the times he...?

“Bob is youngest, Temmie not very old either. Only remember hearing about helpful human with conflict against bad flower. Bad flower very bad, not nice to Temmie or Bob; not like you. Flower not like Frisk. Say good and bad. Not to be trusted.”  _ So then... they’re like Sans in that they remember the past resets... but only the ones where I didn’t kill them... Selective, but probably for the best. _

“Alright, thanks again Bob.”

“Any time.” 

“One more thing though.... Do you know anyone else who might know more?” 

“Hmmmm.... Not sure, royals know for sure but maybe ask skeleton?” Frisk nodded.

“I’ll keep that in mind.”  _ Great... so only Sans, Toriel or Asgore would know.... Toriel still thinks I’m a kid so that’s a no-go, Asgore is out of the question because he’d probably try and kill me before I could get the words out.... That leaves Sans... damn it... I’m likely to have as much luck with him as Toriel... alright... guess I’ll try her first. _ Frisk nearly groaned though when he realized that meant resetting... Okay, so not yet. He would talk to Sans first. Like all the other times, they met in the Judgement Hall. 

“Did you find anything?” Sans shrugged, holding his hands up in a familiar gesture of ‘what are you gonna do?’ that he had seen before.

“Sorry, I didn’t have any luck.”

“I did. I talked to the river person again and they mentioned someone who might help. They knew this someone.” Sans opened his eye sockets at that. When Sans didn’t say anything, he went on.

“The man-who-speaks-in-hands. Apparently he’d been friends with the Temmies, of sorts.” Sans still didn’t say a word.

“You know something, don’t you? Why won’t you tell me?” Sans stuck his hands in his pockets.

“How much do you remember about the first time you died?” The question caught Frisk off guard.

“Not much anymore. I mean, I remember the pain... who it was... but not really how or why.” Sands nodded. Where was he going with this?

“It’s sort of similar for me. I know about the guy and rumors of him, but I don’t remember why he gives me the chills.... Why I know asking for his help isn’t a good idea. Maybe it has something to do with the how and why Paps and I are here. To be honest, kiddo, I don’t recall much of anything other than one day waking up at home with only the memory of my own name and Paps. Of course, Papyrus doesn’t remember anything from before either. I’ve asked around many times, even asked that... flower. No one knew us from before, but I do remember snippets of things. Faces without names and bits of a life I think might have once been mine before I fell down here. I want to help kiddo, I really do. I can’t tell you what I don’t know. In fact... you have my key right?” Frisk nodded.

“Let me show you something even Paps don’t know about.” He offered his hand to Frisk who took it. He wasn’t too surprised to find the shortcut led to San’s home in Snowdin. He was a little surprised when Sans led him around the other side of the house to the shed that was there; he had been there before, but he didn’t think Sans knew that he had and he hadn’t really been able to find anything of use or really anything that made sense. He knew that in the drawers there were various items; a badge of some sort, a photo of people that Frisk couldn’t identify and of course there were the blueprints on the counter that didn’t make a lick of sense to him. He’d never been here with Sans; he wondered what it was that Sans wanted to show him. Sans turned, looking at the child that he knew wasn’t a kid; it was hard to remember that at times, but Frisk didn’t act like a child except when the others were around. 

“Let me ask you something. Why do you let the others think you’re a child?”

“Well, it’s just easier that way. I don’t have to explain anything I guess... and I don’t really want them to feel like they have to treat me different or anything.” 

“That’s why you don’t want me telling them, and I can respect that. For the same reason, I haven’t brought anyone else here, but I thought maybe you might understand.” He pulled back the cover of the machine, revealing a strange contraption that looked like some strange closet or storage space except for the strange tubes and lights along the sides. Frisk looked over at Sans to see what he would say.

“I don’t remember much of my past, as I said before, but there’s this thing. I remember snippets of the man, most don’t even remember his name anymore. I’ve tried everything to get this thing to work, I know you want to find him, but something in me just tells me it’s not a good idea. I don’t remember our history together, if we even had one, but one thing I am sure about is that this machine had something to do with what happened. Rumor says he fell into the core, but I don’t think that’s what happened. He was never that careless, for what little I do know... I know he wouldn’t have just fallen like that. These blueprints... I can’t read them, but I think he might be able to.” Frisk looked at the blueprints, it wasn’t written in any language he could read either; or didn’t seem to be any way. He looked back at the strange machine.

“So you think then maybe this machine had something to do with it?”

“I do. It’s something I’ve been fiddling with, it’s obviously broken... which means he used it and something went wrong. I don’t know where he ended up or what exactly happened... but it’s almost like he was never even here. Like... he was erased.” 

“Erased? Hmmm...” Frisk wasn’t a scientist by any means, but the concept of such things wasn’t completely foreign to him as he’d often read books, fiction and non, which had discussed various aspects of science. Not all of which he’d been able to understand of course. This hadn’t meant that he didn’t understand though, he believed Sans when he said - however outrageous of a concept it might be - that the nameless man had been erased. Considering that to be the monster’s fate, he wagered then that this machine did something Frisk couldn’t do without resetting. It changed the timeline. 

“So, you understand when I say that I believe this thing is a door to... places.”

“More like a gateway, I think, but yes. You’re saying that this monster was tampering with alternate timelines, or the timeline in general.”

“Exactly.”

“How close do you figure you are to fixing it?” 

“Not very. I haven’t touch it in years since before you arrived.” Frisk frowned.

“Why not?”

“Because while it might hold the answers of where me and Pap came from... after all those resets... it became kind of pointless when work kept backsliding.”

“I guess I’m partly to blame for that.

“Nah, like I said, it was before you came here. If anything, it was that flower... but nevermind that. Let’s get to work eh?” Frisk chuckled.

“What?”

“Never thought I’d hear you say those words.”

“Heh. I wasn't always lazy bucko.”

“I guess not."


	5. The Humans Before

“Hand me the crimper will ya?” Frisk looked at the mess of tools in confusion, he’d never done anything like this before; he looked over at the strange mix of tools trying to figure out which one that Sans meant. There were pliers, screwdrivers and phillips heads of several varying sizes, a box of nails, a box of screws, a pair of tweezers that looked like it might be made of rubber instead of plastic... then there were the tools he didn’t have a clue what the heck they were supposed to be. One looked like it was a curved pair of scissors, a cutting tool... at least it looked like one to him. He didn’t think that was it, then there was a long metal rod with what looked to be two handles... it kind of reminded Frisk of a cross, he didn’t think that was it either. Another tool looked like tiny pliers but on second glance they looked sharp... did Sans mean that? 

“This?” Sans looked over as he held up the tiny shears.

“Nope, that’s the shears. It’s that one.” He pointed to one that looked very confusing to Frisk. It's metal jaws reminded Frisk more of a crocodile in the odd way that it was shaped, it was sort of bulky and there was a sharp point on one of them that fit into the other that looked like teeth to him. He handed the tool to Sans. He had next to no idea what the skeleton monster was doing. 

“Don’t know much about tools huh?” 

“I know the basics, but I’m no mechanic. I spent most my time in a lab being probed at, not in a lab building stuff.” 

“Touche kid.”

“Not a kid.”

“Sorry, slip of the tongue there.”

“You don’t have a tongue though.” Frisk said and watched as Sans poked his head out of the machine and looked over at the boy.

“Oh? You an expert on monsters now are ya?” 

“Um... well, no.”

“There’s a lot you don’t know about us.”

“So then you DO have a tongue?” 

“More than that, but yeah.”

“How is that possible?” Frisk asked after a moment.

“I’m a monster, kiddo, that happens to be a skeleton. I am not a human skeleton. I wouldn’t be able to move if I was a human skeleton... you know, lack of muscles and stuff.” 

“How do you know that?” Sans had stuck his head back into the machine again.

“I read a lot when I first came here. I was trying to figure out where me and Paps had come from. So I did a lot of reading on humans and monsters alike.” 

“Did you find your answers?” 

“Hand me that phillips head will you? The one with 2/4 on it.” Frisk rummaged around and found the right one and handed it to Sans.

“No, I didn’t.” He said after a moment’s silence. Frisk didn’t ask any more questions; the silence between the two of them was only broken every now and then as Sans asked for various tools. 

“Do you think that maybe you came from a different timeline?” Sans was silent, going still at that. He then looked over at Frisk.

“No. I hadn’t.” 

“Well, you said this machine was broken when you first found it right?” Sans nodded.

“What if you came from a different timeline? If maybe what happened was that you were trying to... escape... to live and... well... only you and Papyrus were able to arrive in the same place?”

“Even if that were true, why would I not remember him?”

“Well... what if, and this is just a guess really, what if the machine wasn’t working properly and something went wrong when you went inside? Something that had him being erased but that wiped your and Papyrus’ memories?”

“Hmmmm... I suppose the only way to know for sure what happened is to bring him back.” 

“Do you remember his name?” Sans shook his head.

“Maybe if I saw him I would remember. I just get a bad feeling... like we shouldn’t bring him back... That he’s supposed to stay lost for a reason... I just... don’t remember why.” 

“Let’s hope it’s not a reason we’re going to regret... if it is... well, I’ll just reset and we’ll figure something else out.” Sans nodded a little.

“There is that I suppose. Hand me the needle nose pliers will ya?” Frisk handed them over and Sans got back to work again. 

“Been meaning to ask you... you didn’t get far this time did ya?”

“No. I haven’t even talked with Papyrus yet.” 

“I see... better go do that, he’d be suspicious if I suddenly just brought you with me to supper later.” 

“You have a point. I’ll be back after I’ve done that.” 

“Be safe Frisk.”

“You too, I don’t want to come back to find fried skeleton on the menu.” 

“Ha ha... very funny. Get goin’.” Frisk smiled a little and headed off for his meeting with Papyrus. Technically he should have gone through several puzzles to get to Snowdin, but after meeting with Sans on the of beat path, they’d taken a shortcut. Which meant he’d skipped going through all the puzzles.... Frisk wondered how mad Papyrus would be when he met up with him. He searched the spot in Snowdin where they usually had their “fight” but he wasn’t there, he searched all of Snowdin then went backwards through the puzzles only to run into Doggo... he had to fight that dog monster, then he met with Dogamy and Dogressa.... It was as he was heading away from them that he ran smack in Papyrus.

“WHAT THE.... WHO ARE YOU?” 

“Frisk.” 

“WELL, I HAVEN’T SEEN YOU AROUND HERE BEFORE. HAVE YOU SEEN A SHORTER SKELETON AROUND? I’M LOOKING FOR MY BROTHER.” 

“Yes actually. Sans and I have been playing together for the last few hours.”

“OH. WHEN I GET MY HANDS ON THAT LAZYEBONES....” Papyrus fumed. Frisk wished he could tell Papyrus what Sans was really doing, but the other skeleton was too innocent for that. 

“Um, well... he’s working on a project I asked him to do now. Please don’t be too hard on him.”

“HMMMM.... WELL, IF HE’S DOING THAT I SUPPOSE SO... BUT HE WAS SUPPOSED TO BE AT HIS STATION WATCHING FOR HUMANS! ERM... SPEAKING OF WHICH, HAVE YOU SEEN ANY?” 

“Um, no I haven’t seen any other humans around.” 

“OKAY, WILL YOU LET ME KNOW IF YOU DO? I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, MUST CAPTURE ONE!”

“Um, yeah... sure.” 

“GREAT!” 

“Um, I’m going to go give Sans a hand. I’ll see you later.” 

“BYE!” He waved as Frisk headed back to Snowdin, he was out of sight, but not earshot when he heard.

“WAIT A MINUTE! OTHER HUMANS?!” Frisk snickered a little. Papyrus might be innocent, but he wasn’t stupid really, just a bit slow sometimes... 

“COME BACK HERE HUMAN!!!” Frisk easily avoided Papyrus on his way back. It wasn’t that hard. 

“How did it go?” Sans asked when he heard the door open and close.

“Pretty well I think, although I’m not sure he’ll be too pleased with me because I didn’t tell him I was a human but I did tell him I’d let him know if I saw another human around here.” 

“Good one kiddo. He never stays mad for long though. I’m sure after a while he’ll  _ cool off _ .”

“I’m sure after being outside for a while he’ll be  _ chill. _ ” Frisk retorted, Sans chuckled.

“You’re getting good at this.”

“Comes from hanging around you all the time, although if I did that too much around Papyrus he might think I’d become your new coat.” Sans snorted.

“You shouldn’t  _ jacket _ about that around him.”

“Good point, it’s so easy to  _ rattle _ him.”

“No  _ bones _ about it. Although I’m starting to wonder if you’re challenging my title here.”

“Me? Don’t be silly... I would need to go through tu- _ toriels _ to even have a chance against you.”

“Well, they don’t call me  _ comic _ Sans for nothing.” Frisk chuckled. 

“Okay... you got me.” Sans shook his head with a chuckle and the two of them got back to work. After a while though Sans set down the tools and closed the panel.

“Come on, let’s go get supper.” Frisk followed Sans back around to the main house. 

“Hey Paps!” Sans calls as they came in.

“SANS! YOU- WHY IS THE HUMAN WITH YOU?! YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO CAPTURE THEM!” Sans shrugged.

“You know I can’t turn down someone who needs help.”

“NONETHELESS, YOU SHOULD HAVE TOLD ME SO THAT I COULD CAPTURE THEM! WHY DID YOU BRING THEM HOME?!”

“He asked if he could come over and he doesn’t have anything on him to eat so I told him he could eat here. Besides, he was giving me a hand with something so I only thought it was right to feed him too.” 

“I THOUGHT YOU WERE GIVING THE HUMAN A HAND!” 

“Oh, well we finished that one a long time ago so I was helping him with his project.” Frisk said quickly to save Sans from having to answer. 

“FAIR ENOUGH. SUPPER WILL BE READY SOON. WHY DON’T YOU WASH UP?”

“Sure Paps.” After Papyrus was gone Sans glanced over at Frisk.

“Thanks kiddo.”

“Any time. Besides, I don’t think he needs to know anything unless we’re actually successful. Then we can explain.” Sans nodded. 

“Good to know we’re on the same page.” They went into the kitchen and washed up, as that was where the only sink was. Frisk had never understood why there didn’t seem to be any bathrooms around but then again he never recalled actually needing one after eating monster food. Something about how it was different in properties than from human food. 

“IT IS ONLY FAIR THAT I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, GET A CHANCE TO CAPTURE YOU.... TOMORROW.”

“Alright.” 

“NOW THEN, HUMAN, THE MASTER CHEF PAPYRUS HAS MADE YOU THE BEST PASTA EVER!” Frisk looked at the spaghetti set before him and wondered how good it would be. He picked up the fork and took the first bite, it wasn’t burnt... but it was a little too hot and he had to take a quick drink of water to soothe his burned tongue.

“WELL?”

“Ah... I forgot to cool it before I took a bite. I burned myself, but it’s good.” He blew on the next bite and ate it. It was hot alright, but also a little under cooked in parts.

“NYEH HEH HEH! I HAVE DONE IT AGAIN!” Frisk shook his head when Papyrus turned about to get himself and Sans some. To be polite, he still ate it; after all, he already knew that Papyrus’ cooking would get better with time. After the meal Sans and Frisk sat on the couch while Papyrus went up to his room.

“Sans.”

“Ya kiddo?”

“I’ve been thinking... when we get back to the surface again, maybe everyone should stay around the mountain.”

“Why’s that?” 

“Humans... they don’t like things that are ... different. I mean, just look at me. I was born different and spent most of my life in a laboratory as a result. I didn’t have friends because no one wanted to be with someone who would never physically grow... who looked like a kid even if they were an adult... who couldn’t reproduce or anything like that. There are people up there who are prejudice against someone just because they aren’t the same gender... because they have a different colored skin.... Because they have different colored eyes or aren’t physically built the same... because the other person has something that they wished they themselves did... because they don’t share the same ideals of religion... or even relationship preferences... If there’s a reason to hate someone... humans will find it. Humans likely won’t accept monsters because they are different, sure some will be like me and won’t care... but... I can’t say that for the vast majority. I mean, you monsters live down here in peace and everything... sure you don’t agree on everything... but you don’t hate a monster just because they’re different... you don’t make them your slave and force them to work for you without reasonable compensation just because they’re different... you don’t treat them like they’re beneath you.... Like they don’t deserve the same rights that you enjoy.” Sans stared at the boy, speechless.

“You wouldn’t kill another monster just because they had something you didn’t... or...  harm them just for the fun of it. None of you... are like that... you monsters... you’re more human than anyone I have ever come across... even I-” He choked on the words.

“I see. You’re worried about us, aren’t you?” Frisk nodded.

“You’re not the only one. You know you’re not the first human to come down here right?” Frisk nodded. 

“Not all the humans who came before you were as nice as you. You remember all the colors don’t you, and what they represent?” He nodded again.

“Let me tell you about what they were like. Maybe then you can stop worrying so much about us.” How would that help?

“The first human who fell was before my time. So I don’t know anything about them, but the second, She was something else. I heard about her from Toriel. She was awfully young... about six I think, but she was bright for her age. This was, of course, before Toriel locked the Ruins to keep others out... that was kind of because of me actually.” Frisk leaned against the couch.

“I watched the girl go through the puzzles again and again. Actually, Toriel didn’t know I was even there tibia honest.” 

“Really?” Frisk tried not to laugh.

“Okay, okay... no puns then. Anyway, I watched the kid fall down one of the holes near the switch. As a sentry, it was my duty to take care of humans. I honestly didn’t want to kill, but it was orders from the top. At the time, Undyne was still a sentry herself. I’ll explain more on that later.” Frisk nodded.

“Anyway, she and I were still pretty young. So the kiddo I was watching fell and hurt herself real bad. She had a nice ribbon that she’d lost down another hole while trying to find the switch. The second time though she hurt herself so bad falling down that I sort of felt sorry for her... I made it quick... and took the soul. Toriel found out some how and being protective as she is, she locked the Ruins up to keep me and other monsters out. It didn’t keep anyone else in though. The first soul... it was Patience.” Frisk nodded a little, remembering the light blue soul; he also remembered seeing the toy knife but he had left it be.

“That was her most dominant trait... but she didn’t have much of a care for monsters, as I’m sure you realized because I had seen her slaughter those who got in her way... in truth... she was a brat. I wager she would have killed Toriel if I hadn’t gotten to the kid first.” 

“She had the toy knife then?”

“I guess you saw that... but yeah. At some point she did have it. I didn’t see her with it when she fell down. My only regret was that she seemed to love puzzles almost as much as Paps.” Frisk waited to see what else he had to say.

“The next soul came out, she was a teenager... I don’t know how old exactly. I didn’t ask. Maybe thirteen or fourteen if I had to guess. It was remarkable to think that she’d lasted this long, she was a kind soul but she wasn’t afraid of protecting herself. Fact was... I think she was afraid of being found out... I mean, she was dressed kinda like a guy. Brown leggings, white shirt, had a gun, hat and a bandana. I’m sure you’ve figured out who I mean... she was Justice.” Frisk was a little surprised to hear that Justice hadn’t been a guy, but he nodded. She’d been the Yellow soul.

“You don’t seem too surprised.” 

“Well... if what you’ve described is right... that would have been during times we call “The Old West”... where it was better off being born a guy because women couldn’t really have jobs that paid well unless it was prostitution... and no one lived for very long back then either. A lot of women didn’t like their positions in life and often turned to a life of crime.”

“Huh. Anyway, after her was one I don’t think I’ll ever forget. He was one of the most gentle souls I’d ever seen. He stayed the longest in the Ruins, I think, but I’m not certain. Like you he shook my hand, went through Papyrus’ puzzles; he was soft spoken. Didn’t say much, kind of like you in the beginning. He never killed a single monster though, wouldn’t hurt a fly... as you humans are fond of saying. He wanted to actually stay here among us instead of actually leaving after he fell. I can’t imagine what he was running from, but... he was here for a long time. A few years, most everyone loved him... and honestly... no one alive knows what happened to him anymore than they did to the nameless guy. All we know is that he went to Hotland one day and never came back. As you can guess... he was Kindness.” The Green soul. 

“The one who followed was kind of a talker... I mean, he talked big. Said he could take on anything that was thrown at him and he wanted to get back so he could “finish what he’d started” ... or so he said to me at one point. Unfortunately for him he made a big mistake... he challenged my brother to a battle. He nearly got the best of him too, when I saw he wasn’t going to quit... I, well... I stepped in and told him that I bet he couldn’t beat me like he had almost beaten Paps. He laughed, but took the challenge... and I did what I had to then. The kid had heart, no doubt... but he didn’t know when to back down from a fight. He was Bravery.”  _ The Orange soul then... _

“I guess he didn’t know to be scared of you.” 

“Scared of me?” He was caught off guard with that one.

“I’ll be frank with you-”

“Hi Frank, the name’s Sans.” 

“Saaaaaaaans!” He laughed.

“Sorry kiddo, that one was just too good to pass up.” Frisk rolled his eyes.

“But anyways... you were saying?”

“Well, you aren’t really scary in terms of telling someone “boo” or sneaking up on them like that or anything, but when I first met you a chill ran down my spine. I knew you were someone who wasn’t to be messed with... I mean, I walked over that branch in the forest and you snapped it like a car smashes a twig. I might have not been in the best of mindset then in our first real meeting, but I wasn’t stupid.”

“That’s why you reset then, huh? Ya never did fight me more than once before resetting.” He nods.

“I knew I couldn’t get past you without some serious effort... and honestly... I didn’t have it in me. I didn’t hate you or anyone else really... I was just taking out my frustrations on everyone... I know it was wrong, but at the time I didn’t think about it. To me, then... you were just the “monsters under the bed” that everyone had always talked about when I was a kid. You were the scary things that were out to kill us in any... and many gruesome... and every way that you could in order to eat our flesh, drink our blood... or any number of other reasons.” Sans flinched at that. 

“I know now you’re not like that at all. That’s part of why I’m worried about you though.”

“Makes sense... there was one who came here who was afraid of us. She was in her early teens... I couldn’t say how old, twelve maybe. She was as shy as they come without being withdrawn. She loved to perform though, I’m sure you’re likely aware of which soul she had to be. She wore ballet shoes and had on a tutu. I wonder if it was just the pressure of performance that drove her here or something else. She was right scared of us though; she ran from Toriel... probably the only human who didn’t stay at Toriel’s house actually. She had come flying out of the ruins as fast as she could, her shoes in hand at that point. The shoes and tutu were covered in dust... so I assume she’d met with some monsters at least and had done away with ‘em... how I can’t tell you because I wasn’t there. She didn’t stop to greet me, in fact she took one look at me and screamed. I think it’s because I was a skeleton. She ran, fortunately Paps was busy that day and hadn’t set out many of his puzzles. She didn’t stop in Snowdin, never met Paps or stopped to talk to any of the others. She seemed more apt to run than to actually fight as I saw. Any time even the aggressive monsters tried getting close she would run, only actually if she was cornered would she actually fight. I’m not sure how she got the best of any monster... except that maybe the first ones she had encountered were just so weak that even she could deal with them. Still... I watched and waited... she never even made it to where Undyne usually hung out. That was the soul of Integrity.” Frisk nodded thoughtfully, that had been the Blue soul. 

“The last one... before you anyway... now that girl was something else entirely. She was hesitant to shake my hand, but from what I saw she didn’t have any dust on her so I assumed she was one of the more kinder souls... at first. Truth be told, she actually wasn’t much of a fighter at all, but that didn’t mean she was helpless. She was also a teenager. Kinda lanky really, sort of stuck between being a kid and being an adult from the looks of things. That “awkward” stage as many call it. She was mute too. Didn’t say anything, couldn’t for whatever reason and she was almost completely blind. She had glasses that she wore to help her see, but they were real thick... kind of cloudy looking honestly. Always carried a notebook around.”  _ Cloudy glasses... interesting... _

“She’d write down anything and everything she saw, drew a lot of pictures too; despite that not every monster trusted her, she was welcome here, but unfortunately she met her end in Waterfall. From what little I know, it’s hard to say who was responsible at that point. It could have been Undyne or her mentor who was living in Waterfall at the time, newly retired. The kid was like you in a small way though, wasn’t about to give up on her study of things or on getting out of here. Perseverance, I believe, is the word for it.” Frisk just nodded, that was the Purplish soul, it had hints of pink in it and was, in Frisk’s mind... more of a maroon color than actually purple. Though the more he thought about it... Perseverance had a mix of both Determination and Integrity and that mix was what made Perseverance. Determination, while it could be swayed by Integrity and Kindness to spare others, it was not a mix and without Integrity or Kindness to sway it, Determination could go a much darker path... which was the thing with Chara. Determination, by itself, could choose to be swayed by morals... or exist in it's pursuit in spite of such. As he thought about each trait, Frisk realized that only Determination, like what was dominate in his heart, did not rely on any sort of morals to exist. It was a neutral existence in that it could be used for good or evil without any ramifications... well, at least not in the sense of having a conscious.  _ I guess that’s why it was so easy for Chara to become the way she did... _ He thought. 


	6. Nightmare or.... ?

The next morning Frisk was out in Snowdin for his “fight” with Papyrus. It went as it had so many times before. He dodged the bones and made friends with the skeleton. Instead of going further on, however, he stuck around Snowdin. It became a routine for him to help Sans when he wasn’t helping Papyrus cook or making friends with the monsters in Snowdin. After about a week’s work, Frisk returned to the small shed to find Sans was waiting for him.

“Okay, we’re ready to try this... don’t get your hopes up too high now.” Frisk nodded and watched as Sans hit a few buttons and moved back.

“You might want to shield your eyes.” He did as Sans said but at the sound of a thud and a pop Frisk looked over, there was no bright light; instead the machine was smoking and he hit a few buttons to power the machine down.

“Ah... well that was... anticlimactic. Sorry kiddo.” 

“Well, we just need to work some more. I know I’m no expert... but... mind if I take a look?” Sans waved away some smoke and looked at Frisk for a long time then shrugged.

“Sure, ya can’t do any worse I suppose.” Frisk wasn’t sure what he was getting himself into as he peered hard at the diagram. The writing might be foreign to him, but he could read pictures well enough and soon he stuck his head into the panel after Sans had removed a smoking part. It was charred and Frisk had an idea that the part was important. 

“Whelp. Looks like I’m paying Alphys a little visit.” Frisk nodded and decided that, until Sans had a replacement part, there was nothing to really be done. So he spent the better part of two days just relaxing with Papyrus or even Monster Kid, who liked to be called M.K. for short.

“Hey... you okay?”

“Hmm?” He looked over at the little monster that sat next to him in a yellow striped shirt that matched her scales.One wouldn’t know that she was even a girl except for the ribbon that she constantly wore; unlike most monsters, M.K. didn’t have any arms and was constantly tripping. That never seemed to bother her, however, and M.K. used their tail in place of arms to throw snowballs and do other things. Until he’d fallen down here, Frisk had never met anyone who was so upbeat all of the time despite their obvious disadvantage. 

“Well, it’s just that you seem a bit down today.” 

“Oh, it’s nothing important really. Just, something I was working on with Sans didn’t go the way we wanted to so we’re a little disappointed, but we’re going to keep trying.” 

“Anything I can help with?”

“No, but thanks for the offer M.K.” She smiled.

“Hey... I was wondering... do you want to meet my family?” 

“Sure.” She hopped up and Frisk followed her from the Christmas tree they’d been sitting by to a house that was just opposite of the one who liked to hear knocks. Frisk opened the door and M.K. smiled a little before calling out.

“I’m home!!”

“Yo! M.K.! How’s it going? Is that your friend?” The owner of the voice was another monster like M.K. with red scales and wore a blue turtleneck. He smiled a little at the two.

“Yeah, this is Frisk. Frisk, this is M.T., my older brother. Are mom and pop home?” 

“Yeah, Pop’s in the living room. Mom’s doing laundry.” 

“Cool, I guess we’ll go to them.”

“It was nice meeting you M.T.” 

“Back at you Frisk.” Frisk followed M.K. to the living room first where a golden yellow scaled monster was sitting in a red turtleneck, watching Mettaton perform on the TV. Frisk and M.K. politely waited for a commercial break.

“Hey pops, this is Frisk. Frisk, this is my dad.” Frisk was intrigued to see that the yellow scaled monster had the same blue eyes as M.K. 

“A pleasure, I am Monda. It’s nice to see M.K. make new friends.” Frisk smiled a little.

“Why don’t you go say hello to your mother?” 

“Okay.” M.K. ran off, leaving Frisk behind for a moment.

“This is a nice place you have.”

“I’m glad you think so, would you like to stay for supper?” 

“Ah, I’ll have to call Sans, but I’m sure he and Paps won’t mind.” 

“So you’re staying with the skeleton brothers then?” He nodded.

“Yeah, they’re nice and have helped me out a lot really.”

“I see.”

“They’re here with pops.” Came M.K.’s voice as she returned with another monster, this one was only slightly taller than M.T. by a few feet, her eyes were emerald, her scales were a brilliant red like M.T.’s and she wore a green turtleneck. 

“Hello, I am Monmom. It’s nice to meet you Frisk.” 

“LIkewise ma’am.” She chuckled.

“No need for formalities here, you’re M.K.’s friend after all.” Frisk smiled at that and nodded.

“Alright then, it’s good to meet you.”

“Will you be staying for dinner?” 

“I was about to check on that.” 

“He’s staying with the skeleton brothers Monny.” Momda said.

“Oh? That’s nice of them.” Frisk nodded and pulled out his cellphone, hitting the number that he’d registered as Papyrus’. It wasn’t long before he picked up.

“HELLO? THE GREAT PAPYRUS SPEAKING.”

“Hey Papyrus, I was wondering if it’s okay if I have supper with M.K. and his family tonight.”

“OF COURSE! I WILL INFORM MY BROTHER. WILL YOU BE SLEEPING THERE TOO?” The monsters looked at him but Frisk shook his head at them with a smile.

“Nah, I’ll be home right afterwards. I might do a sleep over another night.” 

“ALRIGHT. DON’T BE TOO LATE HUMAN!”

“I won’t, I’ll see you later Paps.”

“BYE!” Frisk slipped the phone back into his pocket. 

“Hey, why don’t I show you my room?” Frisk smiled and followed M.K. to her room, it wasn’t pink or anything like he might suspect of a girl. In fact, it was painted purple and blue, there were figurines on a shelf above a dresser; the figures were of Undyne, Papyrus and the other sentries as well. They were pretty well done from the looks of things, though they were lacking on minor details and looked to be made of wood.

“These are pretty cool, did you make them?”

“Heh, I wish. Actually they were gifts from Santa.” 

“Nice.”  _ Santa huh? Wonder who carved these, they’re pretty good, even if not factory quality. _ Frisk thought to himself.

“Ah, do you mind if I pick one up?”

“Nah, just be careful.” Frisk nodded and picked up the Papyrus figure, looking over it carefully before turning it upside down; looking to see if the maker had left any signs of a marking or... It was very small and faint but Frisk could make out the tiny initials on the bottom. It had been made by M.K.’s older brother.  _ What a nice brother. _ He smiled a little and carefully set the figure back down before glancing at the rest of the room. There was a Mettaton poster along one wall and the bed was ordinary except that the sheets were orange. There was what also looked to be a toy chest at the end of the bed. 

“You have a nice room.” 

“Thanks.” The two of them spent a little time playing with some of the toys that M.K. had, it was a mix of dolls and action figures. It was odd to see, but the two of them had fun. 

“Dinner time!” Monmom called and they put away the toys before heading to the dining table. M.K. sat on some books on her chair and it was only after a moment that Frisk figured out why as she used her tail for everything while the rest of her family used blue magic to lift their silverware and cups. Frisk wondered why M.K. wasn’t doing the same. The meal was mostly a quiet one, with everyone sharing a story or two every now and then about their day if there was something new to talk about. M.K. did most of the talking about Frisk and what they’d done today. When the meal was over, Frisk said his farewells to the family while M.K. was then ushered off to bed.

“It’s nice to see that she has someone her own age to play with.” Frisk just smiled at that.

“Yes, especially since she seems to be such a late bloomer. As you noticed, she didn’t use any magic at the table. It’s not that she can’t or anything, but she has trouble controlling it and it’s dangerous... so she rarely uses it outside of practice.”

“I can understand that.” 

“It’s been hard for her to make friends because of it. I’m glad that she can find someone to relate to.”

“Ah... well, truth is... I’m not really normal myself.” 

“Well, you would have to be something special to keep up with our M.K.” 

“Ah, nothing like that. I haven’t even told her yet myself because I’m not sure if now is a good time to tell her.” The two adults glanced at one another then over at M.T.

“Okay... okay, I get it. It was good meeting you Frisk.” M.T. left the room and Frisk began to slowly explain to the two monsters how he wasn’t a child, despite his appearance. That he was really an adult with a very rare condition in humans that kept them from physically maturing. He proved this to them by not only performing adult level mathematics that the two came up with, but by also his tone and how he held himself now. The look in his eyes was not that of an innocent child anymore, but of someone who had seen and suffered much.

“Well, you certainly are unique Frisk, but still this doesn’t change anything for us and I’m sure it won’t for M.K. when you get the nerve to tell her.” Monda said after a moment of silence.

“You’re a very brave soul. I hope that some day, someone finds a way to help you just as you have helped M.K.” Monmom said with a smile.

“Thanks for understanding.” He then waved at the two and headed back to Sans and Papyrus’  house. Frisk felt really tired by the time he got to the house and barely remembered even climbing into bed next to Papyrus. 

 

It was dark. Why was it so dark? 

_ Hello, partner. Did you miss me?  _ Frisk whipped around, eyes widening to see a figure he had thought was gone.

_ You thought I was gone huh? Just because you managed to purify that other Chara didn’t mean that I was gone for good, but all of your goodie-two-shoes act bored me so much that I slept for a while.  _

“How is this possible? Where am I?!”

_ You mean you don’t remember? This is where we left off, this is the world YOU helped bring about. Isn’t it lovely? So peaceful and quiet. No one around to make noise or oppose us. We can do whatever we want here, but this place isn’t any fun anymore. I’m waiting for you to take me up top. To take me out of the Underground. _

“I don’t care what you think you’re getting Chara. You can’t control me. You won’t ever leave here.”

_ On the contrary. I am tied to you now. I go where you go. After all, don’t forget that you nearly did this... you just had to stop one step didn’t you? That comedian.... You reset EVERY time you died at his hands... WHY?! Why did you never finish it? _

“Because I knew it was wrong. I spared him again and again because I respected him and I knew it was futile. He would just kill me again and again. I didn’t want to go through that, honestly, I’ve had enough of that through Flowey thanks.”

_ Tch. You know, one of these days you’re going to get bored with everything... and then what? Will you return and finally finish what you began?  _

“No. I plan to keep my promise.”

_Promise? To that_ traitor _?_ _What do you owe that miserable creature? He lied to you, tried to kill you._

“Well whose fault is that? YOURS, Chara; whether or not you want to take responsibility for your reckless and selfish actions, it is YOUR fault he’s like that! You could have found another way to break the barrier! You could have lived a happy life with your BEST friend! Instead you took a desperate and foolish gamble and destroyed everything you held dear. You MADE yourself into the pathetic little fool you are now.” Chara stared, wide-eyed.

“This is one reason why I could always resist your control. I am NOT a child! I KNOW what humanity is like, but unlike you I know the world isn’t black and white, it’s not made up of just good people and bad people... there’s a gray area where most people exist. No one is completely good or completely evil. They aren’t like monsters... the real monsters aren’t them... but humanity... and you... you’re worse. You want to just erase everything! As if that would make anything better! If Asriel could see you now, see what you’ve become, he’d be horrified.”

_ I never did any of this for him! _

“Nice try, but you can’t lie to me. I know everything about you Chara. I know you cared enough to try and free all the monsters here. However wicked your little plan was... you did care. You did it for him, for the innocent child he was; once. You wanted them all to be free and you thought it wasn’t fair that they were trapped down here... you set everything into motion and while the lives of the humans that came after you might not have been spared if there was no other way to be found, at least you would have spared your best friend the agony of becoming a monster on par with humanity! You turned him into something he was never meant to be. Don’t think that your tricks or lies will scare me.”

_ So... you still think he’s worth saving? That he deserves a second chance? _

“Everyone deserves a second chance.” 

_ Even me? _ Frisk sat up bolt right.

“HUMAN? ARE YOU ALRIGHT?” Frisk glanced around, he was safe, in bed... and Papyrus was alive, looking at him in concern.

“Yeah... I’m fine. It was just a bad dream.” 


	7. Back

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry about the numbers... but apparently AO3 doesn't support Gaster's way of speaking or there's just something wrong with it when it's allowed to be seen because every time I try it just cuts off the story where I use the wing dings Gaster uses to speak (for whatever reason)... so, unfortunately, you won't be able to see the story in it's original format due to this odd issue. If you want to really see it, you can visit me at DA where I am also posting this tale. My handle there is AGuardianOfDreams

He wasn’t sure if the nightmare was just a dream or not, but he found himself occupied with it more and more. The reason being because if it wasn’t just another dream... if Chara really was still around... there was likely to be trouble. Chara was not the kind of trouble that they needed to deal with when they were so close to achieving a solution for a TRUE happy ending. It wasn’t a “happy ending” without Asriel and the more he thought of it. The more troubled he became as he realized it truly wouldn’t be one without Chara or Gaster- wait... how had he known that name? _Who_ was Gaster and why did Frisk have the feeling that nothing was going to go right once the machine was fixed?

“Kiddo?” Sans noticed his friend hadn’t said the usual “morning” to his brother. Was something bothering him? Sans couldn’t really ever read the boy like he had previous humans and that irked him a bit. He frowned a bit in concern when he got no response; what was up? He gently nudged the boy’s shoulder.

“I’ve heard of giving someone the cold shoulder bucko but you look frozen to me.”

“Sans! This is no time for jokes!” Frisk gave them a small smile.

“It’s okay, I was just off in thought.” Sans raised an eyebrow, or rather he would likely have if he had them. Still, the impression of the look wasn’t lost on Frisk.

“It’s nothing important, just thinking of home.” It was the code phrase he and Sans had developed for when they weren’t alone and he wanted to talk about it but didn’t think it was something others would understand.

“Ah, well make sure you aren’t too _bonely_ for home.”

“SANS! THE HUMAN IS HURTING! DON’T MAKE JOKES!”

“You’re right bro. I’m sorry, _snow_ my fault it’s in my nature.”

“SAAAAAANNNNNNSSSSS!” Frisk couldn’t help but chuckle though; despite it all, he did seem to feel better thanks to his stupid puns. At least from what Sans could see, he wished he could read Frisk, but since day one the boy’s lack of any expression in any situation presented to him had baffled the skeleton monster and even after all those years of being together it still did. Though he wasn’t much better at showing his own emotions, he at least had the excuse of lacking facial tissue as reason for having trouble conveying the more subtle emotions whereas Frisk... he just didn’t get how the boy had learned such control! Then again, Frisk wasn’t the ‘little boy’ he appeared to be and, as far as Sans knew, he hadn’t told any of the others the truth of that. He wasn’t too sure they’d understand, heck, even **he** didn’t fully understand it and he had a scientific mind! Maybe he should talk to Alphys... no, he had promised not to tell anyone else. He sighed inwardly; he’d ask the boy later if he could because, frankly, he needed another scientific mind to help him understand all this... genetics was more her field anyway... Well, sort of. He knew her secret, about the lab she never spoke of and what had happened those years ago, because even without his memory of his past... it had been him she’d called...

_She sounded like she was having a panic attack when she answered the phone and her stutter was bad._

_“Alphys? Calm down,  you’re not making sense here.”_

_“I-i-i-it’s... j-j-just c-c-come!”_

_“Alright, I’ll be there in a moment.” Wondering what had the scientist so riled at such an hour... was it late or early? It was hard to truly know, but it was definitely an hour when most monsters were asleep. He left a note on his door for his brother; just in case. He took one of the “shortcuts” he had for Hotlands. It was one of the places he had a station at as a sentry. One of several really; this one wasn’t far from the lab. He always felt a sense of familiarity about the place; like some memory he forgot, perhaps something in his past. He brushed it off as he knocked at the lab door. There was no answer, at first. After a muffled thud a single door slid open and Alphys peered out; her eyes strained and puffy and the dark circles under her eyes was a sight he wasn’t used to seeing even when she was “accidently” up late watching her “historical documents” on humans._

_“S-Sans... c-come in.” She moved aside and he stepped in, why was this place so dark? He hadn’t heard of a power outage and Alphys was a mess... what was-_

_“No! No! Don’t!” Alphys’ cry came too late as a giant... was that a dog?! Bounded forward. It wasn’t any he’d ever seen and his quick reflexes saved him from being tackled as he leapt back and instantly the thing was hauled in the air by his magic. The sounds it made were a rather eerie version of a bark... how this thing even made sound like that out of the gapping... hole... was a mystery to him... it didn’t have a face at all, though it had a tail and six legs... What in the_ **_Underground_ ** _was_ this _?!_

_“W-wait! I-i-it’s okay! T-t-they w-won’t hurt y-you!” He frowned but looked at the... thing and set it down gently as it had begun to whimper._

_“Alphys, what is this? Some pet you’ve decided to make?” He wouldn’t be the least bit shocked if-_

_“N-no. Sans... it’s... the - the ones who ‘fell down’...” He stared, jerking back like he’d been slapped. What?_

_“This... they...” He was at a loss for words but listened as she began to stutter through the explanation while the Amalgamate she called Endogeny lay down like any dog would as she scratched behind one ear._

_“And you called me because...?_

_“I wanted y-your h-h-help.” He ran a hand over his skull as his mind ran over what she had just told him... The dogs and other monsters she’d used to test the power of ‘Determination’... who were_ alive _again because of it... had melted and merged into... well, he wasn’t sure there was a description for it let alone a word other than what Alphys had given them._

_“This really isn’t my area of science.”_

_“I know, b-but...”_

_“I’ll help any way I can. What do you want me to do?” A look of guilty relief washed over her features then. He knew he’d made the right choice, even if he was unsure if there was anything he could do to help her undo this... mess... Yeah... that was a nice word for it._

 

“I’m heading to my station, want to join me kiddo?” Frisk nodded; if he was surprised Sans didn’t use a shortcut to get them there, he didn’t voice it as they walked.

“What’s eating you?”

“I had a nightmare last night... about Chara...” Frisk described the dream to Sans who listened without a word.

“I’m concerned if it’s possible that Chara might return and if she can, that she might soon and that’s trouble we really don’t need, but at the same time we really can’t have a “happy ending” without dealing with Chara.”

“That’s a lot to take in bucko.” He said after a moment; silence prevailed between the two friends as they reached the Snowdin station. He moved to his usual seat, his mind awhirl as he thought on what Frisk had said. After a while he sighed.

“If she hasn’t actually shown up now then I wouldn’t worry too much on it. We have enough to worry about.” He watched the boy who seemed to be only watching him in turn; he saw more than heard his friend sigh.

“Do you think I’m worrying too much about what was?”

“Perhaps, you and I both know that no one but us remembers your resets.”

“Besides Flowey and Chara.”

“Besides them.”

“Guess you’re right. I’m over thinking this and it was just a dream.” The two of them had work to do, they couldn’t waste time on something that was likely just a dream and Frisk hadn’t heard Chara’s narration since the clash with the Chara from the other timeline.

“You ready kiddo?” Frisk nodded as they stood in the small shed, months of work for the two of them was about to be tested; it would either work or it wouldn’t. Sans hit some buttons and then rushed to the other side of the room where Frisk waited with safety goggles behind an overturned table... just in case.

 

You hold your breath as smoke clouds your vision and a loud alarm fills the room.

 

Frisk would have cried out in alarm, but didn’t have a chance as the door to the machine swung open. Heart pounding, Frisk stared. Was the risk worth it? Moments later the sound of a hacking cough was heard and a skeleton in a black sweater, pants and a dirty white lab coat emerged, gasping to catch a breath... was the figure male? Hard to say for sure with skeletons, but obviously this one had seen better days as they stumbled from the machine. Frisk wasn’t sure, but it was apparent this was the one he’d been warned about as he watched skeletal hands appear, each with a gaping hole in the palms and began sighing. It was slow at first, but Frisk only understood some of it; he’d had a “friend” on the surface who had thought he was deaf and had signed to him constantly... until the truth of his “condition’ had been revealed to the child, who had been moderately deaf themself.

“Sans, do you-?” That’s when he heard a strange sound come from the other skeleton, it sounded like gibberish to him; it wasn’t anything like he’d ever heard before.

1.

As if that wasn’t odd enough, Sans echoed the language before turning to Frisk.

2.

“It... actually worked! Ah... kiddo, this is Doctor Gaster; he was the royal scientist before Alphys.”

“What happened?”

“Ah-” He looked over at Gaster and it wasn’t long before Frisk figured he would need Sans around to interpret.. Whatever language it was that Gaster spoke.

3.

“He says it’s a long story and he’s grateful to be back but wonders what you are up to. Apparently he can see things from the Void and has been watching you.”

4. 

Frisk was silent; he’d been watched? Well, that wasn’t a huge surprise since Alphys and Mettaton had done something similar, but he’d had a warning from the River Person and yet another from Sans, who’d been reluctant about bringing Gaster here. There was no other choice though.

“How far do you trust him?” He whispered.

“Not very.” Was the equally quiet response.

“Okay, here’s the thing, my goal is to make sure that everyone makes it to the surface.” He said aloud after a moment. Gaster tilted his head to one side.

“I mean _everyone._ This includes the former prince and his best friend.”

 

. . . .

 

Frisk ignored it this time.

“No one left behind. I need your help Doctor Gaster-” Gaster held up one hand, signing slowly.

* Please, just Gaster will do.

 

Frisk nodded, indicating he understood as he went on.

“Very well, Gaster; the only way to do this for sure is by answering questions only you might know the answers to. The first being how to get Asriel his soul back.

* How did he get it in the first place? He died so long ago...

“How do you not know? I thought you were watching me.

 

So did I.

 

* I was, but the Void did not produce sound and I am not a lip reader.

“Oh. Well... I think I woke him up when I had everyone present and he thought I was Chara.”

* I see. That was, indeed, quite the battle little one.

 

Frisk merely nodded, unaware Sans had been watching the two of them; he hadn’t known that his friend knew sign language. Frisk looked over at Sans.

“What’s with the look kiddo?”

“Can we talk later?”

“Okay.”

* You have changed, Sans.

“You too, you used to be a bit more of a stiff.”

* Still a _bonehead_ I see.

“Can’t help my nature, everyone always said I was born a _bone_ -afied comedian.”

*Heh. Is Papyrus around?

“Nah, he’s doing one of his rounds.”

* I see.

“Why don’t we get you settled for today? Work can wait for a little bit.” Gaster nodded and Sans led them back to the house.

“Hey kiddo, why don’t you give me a hand with the tea?” Frisk nodded, leaving Gaster in the living room.

“What’s eatin’ ya?”

“ _She_ is back.” Sans fumbled with the box of tea as he pulled it from a drawer.

“Are you sure?”

 

You wonder how it is that Sans doesn’t just believe you after all this time.

 

Frisk tried not to roll his eyes, but he nodded and Sans stared at the tea bags like they’d offended him.

“Well, if she causes trouble we’ll handle it. Just like before; meantime, keep an eye on Gaster... he wasn’t the... friendliest of monsters. I still don’t trust him.”

“Why not?”

“Don’t tell Paps, but... since the accident that sent him to the Void... he’s tried to come back on a number of occasions... by possessing me.”

“Possessing you? He can do that?”

“Yeah, well... he tried. Though he hasn’t tried it since just before ya got here, but that doesn’t mean anything.”

“That’s a good reason not to, but now that he’s free, do you think he’d try something... unsavory?”

“Hard to say; he was a good man before it all went wrong.”

“How do you know that?” No response.

“Sans?” Nothing as he set the water to boil and got out three cups.

“You know you can tell me anything... right?” Silence. Frisk was about to give up on the subject for the moment when he got a quiet answer.

“I was his assistant.” Frisk wasn’t surprised, really, by the answer itself so much as by the fact that Sans had answered.

“I was young... somewhere around fourteen or fifteen I think. Times weren’t... ideal, but there weren’t resets either and the prince was just a kid himself, barely outta wrappings...”

“Wrappings?”

“Er... um, whatever you call that blanket ya wrap a babe in.”

“Okay.”

“Anyway, I was a protege and, as ya can probably guess, I wasn’t lazy.” Frisk nodded a little, though it was hard to imagine a more serious Sans; even the geno route hadn’t revealed that but had been proof that Sans _did_ care and that he was more than he seemed. Many times, he’d lost count, he had been shown new sides of his friend. From the first time he’d come to the Underground and had destroyed every monster in blind rage and depression in his first runs, to the first time he tried making friends after the shock of having to shake off Chara’s attempt to control him. It hadn’t been an easy thing, fighting off the murderous spirit, but he’d managed it. Shaking off the thoughts of a past he really didn’t want to think too hard on, he headed back to the living room; well, so far Chara wasn’t attempting anything. She was, oddly, silent. Frisk began to wonder at this, why now? Why had she come back now? Did it have something to do with that other Chara or was it because of Gaster?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What Gaster says
> 
> 1\. Sans? W-where... How?   
> 2\. Long story. This is Frisk, a friend of mine so be nice.  
> 3\. It was an accident, long story; I am grateful to be back home again. All thanks to the both of you. I know though you could not have brought me back just for the sake of doing so, I know you too well Sans. What is it that you require of me?   
> 4\. That wasn’t what I said... how did you even know about that?

**Author's Note:**

> I know the first chapters are shorter than in the other, but that's because that was a play-by-play (mostly) of the game - with a few variations in events. This is my own idea of the wish of many other players (like myself) and while the idea is not entirely new, this is my version of the events that followed after the first sunset.


End file.
